CWW Week 15 - Day 3 - God In The Family
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Joshua 24:15
‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’
Devotional.
We continue in review of The Resolution which is the theme for week fifteen and sixteen. The document goes on to establish basic principles relating to Fathers but this is relevant to both spouses, as we need to understand God’s role for each in order to build teamwork and cohesion.
“I WILL love them, protect them, serve them, and teach them the Word of God as the spiritual leader of my home.”
Have you ever wondered whether loving needs to be taught or is it innate in all of us? Loving is one thing but knowing how to love is someone quite different. Dr Gary Chapman, the author of The Five Love Languages takes us to the Bible to explain.
Titus 2:3-4:
“the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behaviour, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,”
Have you ever known to the depths of your soul, that you love someone, and then heard them tell you that they don’t think you love them?
This is because, as Chapman explains in his books, that we are not expressing our love to them in the language that they are wired to receive it.
People feel love in different ways. Dr Gary has labeled the Love Languages in the five categories as;
- Physical Touch.
- Words of affirmation.
- Quality time.
- Acts of service.
- Gifts.
In eighteen years of working with couples on the brink of marriage calamity, Michelle and I have seen the truths asserted in The Five Love Languages.
You may have two children who are loved equally by you but one feels your love and is contented and the other feels unloved and vulnerable. This is because you may have the same emotional need as one and not the other. You express say Words of Affirmation to the happy child because that’s your love language but your other child feels love when you spend quality time with them, and that’s not as important to you. We must learn the emotional language of those whom we are in relationship with.
To understand the essence of love which is the character of God I draw your attention to our previous devotions on God’s character and the scripture 1 Corinthians 13.4-8
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. These things are the ingredients of the love that protects a family from evil.
Protect them, takes on several aspects in the context of The Resolution.
We must protect them physically, spiritually and mentally. The first is self explanatory and needs no further explanation. To protect someone spiritually is to know your place in the age old battle between good and evil. You must know who your enemy is and what his strategies are. He will seek to infiltrate and erode the family unit because he knows that the family is the corner stone of community. The internet is just one weapon that the enemy uses to destroy the conscience and stability of the family.
If we take care of the physical and the spiritual, the mental is largely covered as good physical and emotional health usually leads to stable mental outcomes.
To firm the foundations of the protection we afford our families, is to be rooted in the word of God. We ourselves must spend time in prayerful reading guided by the Holy Spirit as we continue to educate ourselves in order to teach our family the Word of God.
When I was working as a Captain with one of the oldest and safest airlines in the world, I had to have my head in the books all the time. There was not one single day while flying that I didn’t learn something. As Captain I had to be one step ahead of the game as my role also required me to mentor my co-pilots who were coming up through the ranks. It was my responsibility to teach and encourage them on their journey. Being in command of the home as the spiritual leader requires the same attention to the diligent study of God’s word.
We must have our knowledge and understanding of the Bible permeate from our hearts into our actions, thoughts and deeds. We must be living examples of God’s word as we teach our families with regular debriefings as we mine for the gold of the lessons to be learned from our mistakes. My father never hid his personal failings from me and I am forever grateful that he allowed me to learn from his experience.
Leadership means that our yes means yes and our no means no. It means that we are known by our character which is clearly understood by all who share life with us. In this we must know who our Higher Power is and be led by His teachings and example. I want all the things I do think and say, to be pleasing to God even though I willingly admit that I fall short of the target too often.
Galatians 1:10 states:
“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”
As spiritual leaders, if we are pleasing God we are doing it right. Pleasing God does not mean perfection. If God can see that our greatest desire is to follow His will then He will bless us.
Questions.
- Think of some people in your life who are exemplary of this kind of spiritual leadership.
- Do you think it’s too late to change now?
- What do you have to lose if you do?
Prayer.
Dear Lord, Papa God.
I want to be a chain breaker of the dysfunction that has beset my family. I know that You know my heart Papa and that You alone can lead me to lead my family. Strengthen me Lord, to be the spiritual leader of my home by guiding me through the processes of loving, protecting and teaching, for their can be no higher calling than to serve You in serving my family. I pray all these things in Jesus Holy name. Amen.
Graham Hood.
